Police say break-in at Trudeau residence was a drunken mistake

It turns out the man who broke into federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's Rockcliffe-area residence in mid-August wasn't targeting the house - he was just drunk.

Charges will not be laid.

Police say the drunken 19-year-old entered the residence through an unlocked back door thinking it was his friend's house.

"We did confirm there was some instructions that were on his phone given to him at that time of day from his friend who lives nearby to enter the yard and enter through the unlocked door," said Staff Sgt. Kal Ghadban with the Ottawa Police Break and Enter Unit. "He believed he was entering into the proper residence of his friend."

Ghadban said the man quickly realized he was in the wrong house, so he left an apology note next to a stack of knives.

"While he was inside, there was a realization he was in the wrong home," said Ghadban. "There was a momentary thought process that before he left he would actually take some items with him, which was very short-lived. He immediately decided against that."

The items in question included knives left on the kitchen counter and an electronic item that police would not identify.

Ghadban said the man did not leave the kitchen area before he left. Police said he did wander into several other yards before he found the right house.

Police released a surveillance photograph of the man last week in the hopes of identifying him. That's when he came forward to police.

"He didn't realize the magnitude of his actions until Friday, when he saw his own picture in the newspaper and he decided to come in holding that newspaper in hand to the front desk here and say 'It looks like this is me. I think I did this,'" said Ghadban.

He said the man wrote an apology letter to the Trudeau family, but it is not yet clear whether the note has yet reached them.